1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to audio services, and, more specifically, provides an interactive, visual complement to one or more audio programs.
2. Discussion of the Background
Presently, there exist systems that broadcast music via satellite and cable to consumers' televisions or set-top boxes or other broadcast receiving devices. Within such a system, a consumer has typically a selection of 45 music channels to choose from. The channels comprise a variety of music genres and formats. Conventionally, for each of the available music channels, the system broadcasts audio only or, at most, a few lines of text in addition to the audio. This additional text is displayed on the consumer's TV screen. On any given channel, the text typically includes information about the music that is currently playing on that channel, such as the name of the artist, the title of the song, and the title of an album that contains the song.
Because only a few lines of text, at most, are transmitted with the audio, a consumer who tunes his or her TV or set-top box to one of the music channels sees an almost entirely blank TV screen. Thus, in conventional broadcast music systems, the TV screen is underutilized and the consumer's overall enjoyment of the system is limited.
What is desired, therefore, is a system to overcome this and other disadvantages of conventional music systems.